Box Score

MONTGOMERY—It was day two of the ISTAP Collegiate Cup, but it was much of the same for the Lady Hornets as they dropped two decisions to fall to 0-4 here in the early season.
 
Jacksonville State (4-0), the overall champion of the Cup, defeated ASU 3-0 in the final match of the day.  The more seasoned Lady Gamecocks defeated ASU 25-16, 25-15, and 25-18.
 
Jen Meyer and Kelsey Anderson led JSU with 11 kills and eight kills with Abbey Heredia collecting 32 assists and Kelly Cole had 11 digs.
 
Rachel Smith had seven kills to lead ASU and Brooke Beasley had 13 assists.
 
It was another learning experience as the coaching staff continues to use different combinations to help the Lady Hornets grow.
 
“I am still searching for some good leadership as well as some good chemistry on the court,” head coach Penny Lucas-White said.  “Right now we are so green to the game it is going to take a little bit longer than I thought getting our volleyball  IQ up so we can compete better.”
 
“JSU played an upbeat tempo of a game that was actually a little bit above my kid's head, which is only going to make us better in the long run.  Heading out to Washington this upcoming week they are going to be even taller than what we faced this week, but it is only going to make us better.  We hit a couple of bumps in the road this week, but we grew a little bit this weekend and that is all that matters.”
 
The Lady Hornets first match of the day saw them taking on Stetson University.  It was a back and forth event with Stetson eventually pulling out a 3-1 win.
 
SU won the first game25-19 only to see ASU win game two 25-17.  The third game saw Stetson slowly building a lead and pulling away for the 25-14 win.  In the fourth and deciding game, ASU held a 13-10 lead, but SU went on an 8-0 run and the Lady Hornets never recovered in the 25-15 loss.
 
Kelli Carneal had 11 kills and Ellen Hawks had 10 for the Hatters.  Monique Russell had 20 digs and Carneal had a team-high 16 assists.
 
Rachel Smith had nine kills and Brooke Beasley had a match-high 27 assists.  Luiza Griz had 20 digs for the Lady Hornets.
 
Other Day Two Matches;
 
The fifth match of the day saw Tennessee State (3-1) wrap up a strong tournament with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Stetson (1-3).
 
The Hatters won the first game 25-22 before the Lady Tigers bounced back to win the next three games 25-15, 25-17 and 26-24.
 
Rachel Ambroch led TSU with 18 kills while Naomi Welss had 14.  Erika Moss had another stellar match with 38 assists and 14 digs.  Britani Hathorn had a match-high 19 digs.
 
Kaley Milville had 15 kills and Cailyn Prewitt had 11 for Stetson.  Kelli Carneal had 17 assists and Kayla Weller had 14 while Monique Russell finished with 16 digs.
 
Match four saw the University of South Dakota (3-1) bouncing back from their lone loss of the tournament with a strong 3-0 win over Southeastern Louisiana (1-3).
 
SELU actually led 23-16 in game one, but the Coyotes came roaring back scoring nine consecutive points to close out the game.  USD again won a tightly contested game two with another 25-23 win.  The third game was all USD closing it out at 25-15.
 
Kendall Kritenbrink had 14 kills and Amber Aschoff had 11.  Tori Kroll had 33 assists and Katie Bunkers had 13 digs.
 
Courtney Donald led the Lions with 12 kills and Becky Bekelja had 26 assists.
 
The second match of the day featured two 1-1 teams in Tennessee State and Southeastern Louisiana, with the Lady Tigers from TSU pulling out a 3-1 win.
 
SELU jumped out of the game winning the first game 25-20, but TSU came back to win three consecutive games at 25-17, 25-16 and 25-14.
 
Naomi Wells once again led the Lady Tigers with 22 kills.  She had plenty of help as Sherryce Butler had 14 kills and Rachel Ambroch had 13.  Erika Moss had 49 assists and Britani Hathorn had 17 digs.
 
Courtney Donald has led SELU in kills the tournament and this match was no different as she finished with a team-high 10 kills.  Becky Bekelja had 25 assists and Megan McMillin had 11 digs.
 
The first match of the day featured the only two undefeated teams left in the, South Dakota and Jacksonville State.  In a five set thriller Jackson State came back from losing the first two games two defeat USD 3-2, winning the fifth game 15-13.
 
USD came out on fire winning the first two games 25-17 and 25-12.  JSU seem to wake up from the early start to win the next two games 25-21 and 25-23 before outlasting the Coyotes in game five.
 
JSU's Hivya Leite (13), Kelsey Anderson (12) and Jen Meyer (10) all had double digits in kills while Abbey Heredia had 25 assists and Kelly Cole had 24 digs.
 
For USD, Kendall Kritenbrink (13) Natalie Walseth (12), Amber Aschoff (12) and Lindsey Sathre (11) hit for double digits in kills.  Tori Kroll had a match-high 46 assists and Riley Haug had 24 digs.
 
Jacksonville State University was the tournament team champion and JSU's Kelsey Anderson was named the ISTAP Challenge Cup MVP.
 
Named to the All-Tournament team were Naomi Wells (Tennessee State), Courtney Donald (Southeastern Louisiana), Amber Aschoff (South Dakota), Ellen Hawks (Stetson), Jen Meyer (Jacksonville State) and ASU's Amber Bennett.
 
Alabama State will be back in action on Aug. 31-Sept.1 at the Cougar Challenge in Pullman, Wash.  The Challenge will be hosted by Washington State University.